Other forms: forces, forced, forcing
To force somebody is to make them do something against their will. Forced to leave, forced a confession, don't force it. The word always implies resistance being overcome.
The noun is busier still. Force is physical strength — the force of the wind — and in physics a precisely defined quantity measured in newtons. A force is also an organised body of people: the police force, the armed forces. And in force means either in large numbers or legally effective, which are two quite different meanings sharing a phrase: the fans turned out in force, the law comes into force in April.
1verbforceTo make somebody do something they do not want to do.
“Nobody forced him to sign it.”
2nounphysicalPhysical strength or power.
“The force of the wave took the wall out.”
3verbopenTo open something using strength.
“They forced the back door.”
4nounorganisedAn organised group, especially of police or soldiers.
“She joined the force at twenty-two.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
force is strength applied.
Latin fortis meant strong, and Vulgar Latin fortia was strength itself — the same root as fort, fortitude, comfort and effort. Everything in the family is about strength being applied to something.
Proto-Indo-European
*bʰerǵʰ-
Latin
fortia
Old French
force
Middle English
force
English, today
force
From Middle English force, fors, forse, from Old French force, from Latin fortia, a noun derived from the neuter plural of Latin fortis (“strong”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European bʰerǵʰ- (“to rise, high, hill”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA